ANN CHAMBERLAIN

Domestic Interior, 1984

Chromogenic prints

Gift of Catherine Wagner and Loretta Gargan, 2019.8.1.a-b

Ann Chamberlain was an American artist living and working in the Bay Area whose work sought to examine the way spaces can hold memory and can form identities based on their occupants. Her 1984 piece Domestic Interior is a part of a larger collection of diptychs that showcase lived-in domestic spaces with accompanying text. The series aims to explore the mundane relationships between people and their spaces. Domestic Interior examines the isolation that comes with the hidden aspects of women’s work in a domestic setting and within the context of motherhood. The decision to portray a mother and daughter relationship without depicting any people highlights the loneliness that can come with motherhood and domestic life. This is especially true once children have grown up and the cycle of motherhood continues for the next generation. This, in addition to the artist’s use of pronouns rather than names, allows the viewer to insert themselves into the scene, forcing them to question their position within domestic life.

—O. O. Roberts